Steve J. James

Effect of steam condensation, hot water or chlorinated hot water immersion on bacterial numbers and quality of lamb carcasses

Abstract Three different systems for decontaminating lamb carcasses immediately post-mortem were investigated; steam condensation, hot water immersion and chlorinated hot water immersion. All treatments were applied 50 min post-mortem. All three treatments significantly reduced aerobic plate counts (APC) on the carcasses in comparison with untreated controls. Overall the chlorinated hot water treatment reduced counts by 1.6xa0log 10 xa0colony forming unit per centimetre square (cfu cm −2 ). There was no significant difference between the steam and hot water treatments with both treatments reducing counts by approximately 1xa0log 10 xa0cfu cm −2 . No significant differences ( P xa0>xa00.05) were found in the subjective evaluation of lean appearance, colour appearance, odour, and overall acceptability between treated and untreated carcasses after 48 h of chilling and chilled storage.

Construction, management and cleanliness of red meat abattoir lairages in the UK

A survey of a large number of UK abattoirs was conducted via a questionnaire designed to obtain information on (i) throughput and species slaughtered; (ii) construction materials used; (iii) use and type of bedding and (iv) details of cleaning/sanitation regimes. A representative group of abattoirs were selected on the basis of the responses to the questionnaire, and the lairage at these plants investigated through enumeration of Escherichia coli remaining after routine cleansing operations. The aim of this study was to enable identification of common lairage practices and to assess the general status of the lairage hygiene and effectiveness of lairage cleaning in commercial UK abattoirs. The study shows that microbial contamination often remains in UK lairage holding pens after routine cleaning operations. It would appear that there are significant differences in the effectiveness of lairage cleaning programmes at commercial abattoirs, and that the stun-box-roll-out areas are often cleaned to a better standard than the holding areas. As a result of persistence of microbial contamination in the lairage, there is a possible risk of foodborne pathogens persisting in the environment and potentially contaminating animals and carcasses processed on subsequent days.